Iness Mezel: Beyond the Trance – review

Iness Mezel has perfect credentials for a fusion artist. Her mother is French-Italian, her father is Algerian and she was brought up in Algeria and France, where she listened to disco and funk, and studied piano, singing and jazz improv. Perhaps more importantly, she came to the attention of Justin Adams, our finest exponent of African-blues fusion styles, who produced this set and provided much of the instrumental work on guitar, banjo and the north African gimbri lute. Mezel wrote all the songs, which are in French and north African Berber/Amazigh. She has a cool, confident voice, and the ability to switch from gutsy R&B to brooding blues, funk or jazz, or the gently powerful unaccompanied singing at the start of the final track. But this sounds from the start like an Adams album, driven on by his rousing, gutsy guitar playing and inventive production work, his distinctive, bluesy riffs matched against impressive kora solos from Seckou Keita. It's an impressive set – but she'll need Adams by her side if she's to sound this good live.